Trade unions and employers represented at European level by Luca Visentini (secretary general of the European Trade Union Confederation) and Emma Marcegaglia (president of BusinessEurope) agreed at the autumn tripartite social summit on Wednesday 18 October on the need to move forward with economic and monetary union (EMU), to strengthen the role of the social partners in reflection on the future of Europe and adjusting worker training to the digital economy. Real disagreements persist, however, on European social rights and the directive on worker secondment.
The tripartite social summit, unlike previous versions (see EUROPE 11646), focused on more general questions about the future of the EU and issues to be discussed at the Social Summit in Goteborg, Sweden, in November, rather than on the questions that will be tackled at the European Summit.
Three topics were on the agenda at the talks attendee by the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, and the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, namely the social dimension of Europe, boosting the social partners’ participation in policy and reforms at national level, and investing in digital economy-related training. Agreement was reached on the two latter issues, but the social dimension of Europe remains subject to many disagreements.
On the question of European social rights, Visentini and Marcegaglia agreed on the need to make progress at the next employment and social policy council (EPSCO), but disagreed on the role of social rights in the European matrix.
The president of BusinessEurope said it was important to strike a balance between social rights and the economy. In any case, social rights must not impact negatively on European business competitiveness at international level, she hammered home.
Visentini, on the contrary, said a progressive understanding of the notion of competitiveness was needed that should include a strong social dimension. He said work should be pursued on the convergence of pay between Western and Eastern Europe. He said the internal market could not exist without a social dimension.
The worker secondment directive is due to be agreed upon in principle (in the form of a ‘general approach’) by the Council on Monday 23 October, but here the social partners were even more divided. Marcegaglia said it was pointless renegotiating the issue and it would be more productive to focus on implementing existing legislation, particularly since seconded workers make up a tiny section of the employment market.
Visentini disagreed with this interpretation, saying the question needed to be renegotiated because the directive had some grey areas and legal gaps that allowed fraud to take place, particularly over remuneration. The way he sees it, seconded workers are not an epi-phenomenon as the question extends well beyond the seconded workers themselves in that it affects host country companies as much as workers.
The European Parliament’s employment and social affairs committee adopted its negotiating position on this directive on Monday 15 October (see EUROPE 11885, 11881).
Vinsentini said that in s few weeks’ time, the social partners and European Commission would sign an alliance to facilitate better integration and equal treatment of migrants. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)